From a box-office perspective, Bunbury Music Festival maxed out this year – three days, three sellouts, a total of 60,000 tickets sold.

Those are stats sure to make Bill Donabedian happy. Donabedian launched Bunbury in 2012 and maintains an ownership stake in it. Given Bunbury’s success, it makes sense that he’s looking for more opportunities in the festival game. And, as it happens, Donabedian is ushering in Bellwether Music Festival, a two-day affair on the grounds of Renaissance Park in Waynesville, Ohio.

Donabedian says he wasn’t actively trying to start a new festival in the region; instead, he was convinced after an introduction to David Ashcraft, who owns Renaissance Park. Ashcraft wanted to do a music event on the land.

“The Renaissance Festival grounds themselves are not ideal for this,” Donabedian says. “But then they took me behind that property to this massive, beautiful, open field with grass, and I looked at them, and I’m like, ‘Oh, yes, you could absolutely do a great music festival with camping out here.’ ”

That’s one difference between Bunbury and Bellwether: Bunbury is an urban alternative festival with no camping; Bellwether is a rural festival with camping.

“This is just a very different vibe and far enough away from Bunbury and at a different time,” Donabedian says. “Bunbury is like a beginning of the summer, Bellwether is like an end of the summer. As an owner of Bunbury, I’m very careful about what Bellwether will be like and what it will become. I want them to play nice together, if you will.”

Flaming Lips(Photo: Provided)

That’s where booking comes into play. Bellwether’s talent buyer is Patrick Ryan, who books the New York club Daryl’s House. The headliners that Ryan signed for the inaugural Bellwether include MGMT, Flaming Lips and Local Natives. MGMT and Flaming Lips were Bunbury headliners in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

When Donabedian and Ryan were brainstorming ideas for Bellwether headliners, Donabedian recalled the success Bunbury had with MGMT, so he went after them again. “MGMT was the first ‘yes’ that we got for Bellwether. It’s getting harder and harder to start a new festival. No headliner wants to take a chance on a first-year event,” he says.

The MGMT booking set Bellwether in a musical direction, and the bill was rounded out by other indie-rock acts like Dr. Dog, Whitney and Japanese Breakfast. There’s also a touch of ‘80s British alternative in the forms of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Psychedelic Furs. For the local touch, there’s the sitar-fueled duo Dawg Yawp and indie outfit Carriers, as well as former Cincinnatian Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards fame.

“I have to be honest. We wanted to be a little bit more alt-country-leaning in our first year, and we will probably get to that spot eventually. It’s just the way the booking came together. It’s a little bit more psych. Bunbury, you’ll see more pop-rock focus going forward. I think that’s what helped that festival sell out. And I think we’ll play in some unusual space with Bellwether, maybe get a little more alternative,” Donabedian says.

This year’s booking formula, though maybe not what Donabedian originally had planned, seems to be effective. He says ticket sales are strong and he expects 10,000 people a day, most coming from the three largest cities in proximity to Waynesville – Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton.

Echo and the Bunnymen(Photo: Provided/Roger Sargent)

“Cincinnati is actually the number-one market. Next in line is Columbus, then Dayton. The next biggest market is Cleveland, and after that is L.A., and after that is Portland, and after that is Chicago. It’s pulling from all over the U.S. in its first year,” Donabedian says. “There’s a compelling value proposition. It’s a great lineup. It’s not a three-day lineup, which I think is appealing to some people. Some of these festivals can turn into marathons of endurance.”

That’s the Bunbury guy talking, who knows through experience that festival-goers are on the lookout for a little bit of creature comfort. Donabedian has thought of those things for Bellwether.

“Everyone is always worried about a festival like this, out in a field, is there’s shade? And the answer is yes. Don’t worry. We’ll have shade,” he says. “We’ll have free water, misting tents, all that good stuff. Lots of good food vendors. Everything’s there. You don’t have to camp. But there is something to be said for setting up a simple camp site and not having to worry about driving home afterward.”